Differences Between Leadership and Management

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The differences between Management and Leaders are often
difficult to discern. People often possess both leadership and management
traits, as many people in everyday circumstances use management skills,
leadership skills, and a combination of both. However, there are subtle
differences through which we can differentiate between management and
leadership. At the same time, however, not all good managers are
necessarily good leaders and not all good leaders are good managers. The
qualities, skill sets and personalities that make a good leaders are often
little different for a manager. For example, leader should be able to lead
people, while managers must be detail oriented so that they can make good
business decisions. Similarly, leaders focus on big picture and look for
people, while management looks for detail and the profitability of the
In American company, one of the reasons that the organizations
hire people with management skills rather than the leadership skills is
that management role in the organization can easily be viewed through an
analysis of the income statement, and profit/loss sheets (Berry, Zeithaml,
and Parasuraman, 1985). The reward of advancement in American business
makes it difficult for great leaders to rise to a position of leadership. A
leader will rarely be good enough at the managerial skills required for
advancement within the system. However, history has proven that in times
of crisis, it is the leadership skill that takes the command of the
situation. Management comes much later.
Some of the traits that leaders possess can be summed as
follows: leaders are bold, imaginative, spirited, confident, passionate,
unconventional, aggressive, inspiring. Our history can show the examples
of great leaders and their tremendous feats. On the other hand,
management is detail oriented that often looks for stability, qu...